History of Wake Forest College, Volume II (1865-1905)
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414 History of Wake Forest College abiding by the regulations but none of them was allowed to return for the next session. There were some others in unorganized groups with no fixed membership who nevertheless were warned, and took the warning in good part. During the years of war and turmoil that followed the thoughts of both students and faculty members were on other things, and little was heard of fraternities. Soon after the close of the war, however, they were giving trouble again. There was much discussion of them in the Biblical Recorder by able writers, nearly all of it strongly in opposition. One of the best of these articles was that by President W. L. Poteat, an address to the Southern Baptist Education Association, Nashville, Tennessee, January 30, 1920. After mentioning some of the usual arguments in favor of fraternities, he stated the case against them: They were (1) expensive, (2) "unfavorable to the spirit and work of the literary societies, which for the membership of the fraternities, are practically little more than the field of opportunity for the distribution of college honors," (3) they are unfavorable to scholarship, in support of which statement facts and figures are given from a dozen representative educational institutions, and this quotation from Dr. Slosson, formerly a college president, in the Independent of August 3, 1914: "I have often speculated as to what the Greek letters stand for, but now I know: they stand for poor scholarship," (4) they are undemocratic, a point supported by convincing statements. Soon after the close of the war a definite propaganda was begun both at Wake Forest and in the State, by minority groups in each instance, for the legalization of fraternities in the College. Their undertaking was the easier because of the inadequacy of the two Literary Societies to serve the constantly increasing number of students. Though all of these were required to become members of the one or the other of them the Societies could not minister to their needs. As is told above, in the chapter on the Literary Societies, nothing was done to meet this situation; the various suggestions made―provision of larger halls in a new